The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

of meum. This has been already explained by the
illustration of the car and the pedestrian. One
who has been overwhelmed by delusion in consequence
of attachment, adheres to it like a fisherman to his
boat. Overcome by the idea of meum, one wanders
within its narrow range. After embarking on a
boat it is not possible in moving about on land.
Similarly, it is not possible in moving about on water
after one has mounted on a car. There are thus
various actions with regard to various objects.
And as action is performed in this world, so does
it result to those that perform them. That which
is void of smell, void of taste, and void of touch
and sound, that which is meditated upon by the sages
with the aid of their understanding, is said to be
Pradhana. Now, Pradhana is unmanifest. A
development of the unmanifest is Mahat. A development
of Pradhana when it has become Mahat is Egoism.
From egoism is produced the development called the
great elements. And of the great elements respectively,
the objects of sense are said to be the developments.
The unmanifest is of the nature of seed. It is
productive in its essence. It has been heard by
us that the great soul has the virtues of a seed, and
that is a product. Egoism is of the nature of
seed and is a product again and again. And the
five great elements are of the nature of seed and products.
The objects of the five great elements are endued
with the nature of seed, and yield products.
These have Chitta for their property. Among them,
space has one quality; wind is said to have two.
Light, it is said, is endued with three qualities;
and water as possessed of four qualities. Earth,
teeming with mobiles and immobiles, should be known
as possessed of five qualities. She is a goddess
that is the source of all entities and abounds with
examples of the agreeable and the disagreeable.
Sound, likewise touch, colour, taste, and smell numbering
the fifth,—­these are the five qualities
of earth, ye foremost of regenerate persons. Smell
always belongs to earth, and smell is said to be of
various kinds. I shall state at length the numerous
qualities of smell. Smell is agreeable or disagreeable,
sweet, sour, pungent, diffusive and compact, oily and
dry, and clear. Thus smell, which belongs to the
earth, should be known as of ten kinds.[154] Sound,
touch, likewise colour, and taste have been said to
be the qualities of water. I shall now speak of
the qualities of Taste. Taste has been said to
be of various kinds. Sweet, sour, pungent, bitter,
astringent, and saline likewise. Taste, which
has been said to appertain to water, is thus of six
varieties. Sound, touch, and likewise colour,—­these
are the three qualities which light is said to be
possessed of. Colour is the quality of light,
and colour is said to be of various kinds. White,
dark, likewise red, blue, yellow, and grey also, and
short, long, minute, gross, square and circular, of
these twelve varieties in colour which belongs to
light. These should be understood by Brahmanas